Fort Worth Funeral for Slain Florida Teens Tuesday

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Calyx and Beau Schenecker, two Florida teenagers allegedly killed by their mother. Police say the teens were shot by their mother, Julie Schenecker, who told detectives they were "mouthy."

Updated at 8:58 PM CST on Monday, Feb 7, 2011

Two Florida teens allegedly killed by their mother will be laid to rest in their father's hometown of Fort Worth on Tuesday.

Calyx and Beau Schenecker will be remembered with a funeral service at Christ Chapel Bible Church in Fort Worth Tuesday afternoon.

In obituaries running in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on Sunday and Monday, the teens, who died in Tampa, are described as outgoing, loving children who will not be forgotten.

Calyx, 16, is remembered as model student, published artist and tenacious cross country and track athlete. Beau, 13, is described as a lovable person who had countless friends.

Police say the teens were shot by their mother, Julie Schenecker, who told detectives they were "mouthy."

Mother Charged in Children's Murders

When police responded to a call from a concerned relative and found Julie Schenecker on the back porch of her Tampa home, they said she was covered in blood and made a gut-wrenching admission: She had killed her teenage son and daughter because they were "mouthy."

An arrest affidavit said Schenecker shot her son twice in the head "for talking back" as she drove him to soccer practice the night of Jan. 28, 2011. She drove home, went inside and shot her daughter in the back of head while the teen sat at a computer doing homework, then shot her in the face, the affidavit said.

"I think we will never understand how or why a mother could take the lives of her children," police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. "That was the only reason she provided to our detectives."

Officers found the body of Schenecker's daughter, Calyx Schenecker, 16, in an upstairs bedroom, McElroy said. The body of her son, Beau Schenecker, 13, was found in a sport utility vehicle in the garage.

Schenecker's mother had called police from Texas at about 7:40 a.m. Friday because she was unable to reach the 50-year-old woman, whom she said was depressed and had been complaining about her children.

McElroy said Schenecker left a note detailing her plans to kill her children and then herself, saying "they talked back and were mouthy and that she was going to take care of it." She provided the same motive to police who interviewed her, authorities said.

"During a post-Miranda interview with detectives, Julie Schenecker confessed to killing her two children," police said in a statement. "She described the crimes in detail."

McElroy said investigators believe the teens "never saw it coming." Both teens were killed with a .38-caliber pistol, which authorities say Schenecker bought five days earlier.

Bullets, medication and a Smith & Wesson instruction manual were among the items found in the master bedroom and bathroom upstairs, a search-warrant affidavit said. It did not specify what type of medication was found.

Schenecker's husband, Army Col. Parker Schenecker, is stationed at the headquarters of U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. The father had been away for several days, said CentCom spokesman Lt. Col. Michael Lawhorn, describing him as a career Army intelligence officer.

Police said Parker Schenecker was in Qatar and was told of his children's deaths on Friday.

Julie Schenecker Appears in Court

During a court appearance on Monday, Julie Powers Schenecker, 50, held a tissue and cried as she was ordered held without bail in the Jan. 28 shooting deaths of her children.

Schenecker has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Schenecker, who spent two nights in a Tampa-area hospital, had her arms held by two deputies and did not speak during the appearance.